Posted By Rob French
Colleagues,
can I run this past yourselves, we are all set for the above with our company creating a policy that encompasses the whole of our property not only buildings but car parks aswell, fine no problem. The senior management are asking for each of our building locations to provide an 'exclusion zone' with the idea of preventing our staff from smoking just out side the building on the pavement. Although I am not a smoker myself I have concerns that we will be creating a no smoking area that includes large areas of the public highway/pavement, can you please give me your thoughts,

Rob.

Posted By holmezy


Rob,

I can't see how you can stop people smoking on the public pavements outside buildings. I can understand that it might be bad for company image to have a group of smokers huddled around the entrance to a building but they are then off company premises.

Another thing to think about, do you still pay them for leaving company premises to have a smoke? How do non smokers feel about it, especially if they dont get the same "breaks" etc?

I'm sure that some companies will recieve fines or a stern warning, but in todays world, with all the other stuff to worry about, I cant see it being on top of anyones hit list.

I've already offered to drive up and down the Motorways with a camera, ( fixed, automatic and hands free, of course) catching drivers still using mobile phones for a tenner a time, perhaps I can combine this with "catching smokers". I can feel a cottage industry coming on!

Holmezy

Posted By Rob T
Of course you can't stop people smoking in external public areas however you can stop employees leaving the premises during work time if you want to treat people like kids in school (they'll find the "bike sheds" in any case). I wouldn't advise it though as you will cause resentment and high levels of stress. (Contrary to some people on here, I happen to think that smokers are just as human as anyone else and not child-killing psychopaths). After all it doesn't present any known hazard (people smoking in the open air), even to the oiks from ASH. ASH have even said themselves (reported in the Telegraph last week) that they weren't trying to stop smokers from smoking outside (even though we all know they were lying about that! but it's in writing now!).

Let's get some sense of proportion here!

Posted By Frenchie
What worries me is that we are potentially saying to our employees although there is no identification of who you are, you are on public property and you are on an unpaid break you cannot smoke, and I can see this upsetting some people bringing up their rights etc.

Rob.

Posted By DRB
A lot of offices in the City (London) won't allow their employees to smoke just outside the building. It works without any problems even though the area is a public thoroughfare. Additionally why should you visitors have to walk through a load of second hand smoke when they visit your premises? If a building is smokefree then so should the entrance/exit!

Posted By Merv Newman
I still reckon that "smoke breaks" should be made up at the end of the day. You take 5 ten minute breaks to smoke a fag, you owe me 50 minutes.

Those who dont smoke go home at 5pm, You go at 5h50.

Cats/pigeons ?

Why is no-one arguing with me today ?

Merv

Posted By J Knight
we're having a discussion about this at work, but in our case its slightly more complicated: many of our workers wear uniforms.

One of our Care Centres is in a public park, and has, effectively, no grounds of its own. If workers are to be able to smoke they have to go to a public place to do it. Senior managers want to ban our employees from smoking in public in uniform. I (although a non-smoker and in favour of the ban in general) think this is probably a really bad idea. If we don't let smokers smoke at all, I reckon they will walk, and recruitment isn't easy; plus if I was them I would certainly feel my morale dropping through the floor,

John

Posted By J Knight
Merv,

Yes, it is about professionalism and health-promotion, you have hit the nail on the head. I suppose its all complicated by the fact that one of our healthcare focuses is on palliative care, which until lately has been mainly about cancer; you get the picture I'm sure.

We will provide discrete areas in most places; the particular problem is the centre in the park, where we literally have no grounds, apart from two small areas which really aren't suitable for smokers (or really anybody else) to lounge around in.

I think we should let them use the car-park, as even though that's not 'ours' we do have reasonably exclusive use of it. It is visible from elsewhere in the park, and therein lies the problem for our managers.

So I guess, on the wider matter being discussed on this forum, I would say that we should provide smokers with somewhere they can go if we possibly can, and if they can't be identified by the public then what's wrong with them going onto the public road; if you don't want them congregating around the entrance then make the entrance a non-smoking area for staff,

John

Posted By Merv Newman
Hi Rob

Monaco usually follows French legislation on H&S so if you want to smoke in the office you are going have to install a high velocity air conditioning system. Pulls the wig off.

Nigeria, as an ex-British colony often adopts UK legislation. Except that no-one cares.

Northern Nigeria is even more difficult. Sharia might require female workers to be stoned for not wearing safety shoes.

P.S. do not try to fly out of Nigeria with money in your pocket. They don't like it.

Merv

Posted By John Murgatroyd
If they are allowed to smoke on a public footpath or highway, make sure that suitable receptacles for the waste are provided. Or tell the smokers to take their waste products inside with them for disposal. Don't forget: Look out, there's council rubbish watch there somewhere !

Posted By Merv Newman
Ken,

you are assuming/proposing that only teachers smoke. Where does a 13 year old do his/her crack ? Or even a swift shoot-up ?

There are more serious problems than passive smoking.

Merv